Mars-Flyby Comet in False Color

This movie sequence of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring before and after its close pass by Mars in October 2014. False color enhances subtle variations in brightness in the comet's coma. The images were obtained by MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera between October 17 and 20, 2014. For more information on these images and future updates, see http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu. HiRISE is one of six instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona